Hippo, Birdies, Two Ewes
by Mishiko Shinsei
Summary: Disclaimer: Just own the words, not the folks. For Muses of Meifu LJ challenge: Hisoka & Tsuzuki shopping for something other than food. Oneshot. TsuSoka implied.


_**Disclaimer: Just own the words, not the folks. **_

For _Muses of Meifu_ LJ challenge: Hisoka & Tsuzuki shopping for something other than food. One-shot. TsuSoka implied.

**Hippo, Birdie, Two Ewes**

They'd been looking at items for hours and Hisoka's slim patience had already deteriorated. Glancing to his right, he notes that Tsuzuki's gleeful smile hasn't wavered a bit, while his own grimace tainted their reasons for being out wandering around. His original plan had been to spend this Saturday quietly reading. How'd he let Tsuzuki talk him into this excursion anyway?

"Remind me, why are we doing this again," Hisoka snips.

"Because it's your birthday," Tsuzuki offers, shyly.

"So?"

"Well, you didn't want a party and you wouldn't let me cook for you…"

"Of course not!"

"And I wanted to do something special for you since it's your 25th birthday," he grins.

"But isn't this kind of extreme? It's not like you're the richest guy in the world, Tsuzuki," Hisoka murmurs, tactlessly.

"I've been saving up," his partner chirps.

Hisoka eyes him suspiciously.

"Saving what? You've barely received a salary for the last ten years."

"I-I've been saving for a long time. It's just money that I put away for-for stuff," he stutters.

Hisoka stops walking.

"I never use it and I wanted to do something special for you," Tsuzuki concludes soberly.

Finally noticing that Hisoka isn't beside him, he stops walking and turns around.

"I can't let you spend your savings on me, Tsuzuki," Hisoka declares, staring into Tsuzuki's eyes.

Tsuzuki shrugs nonchalantly, hoping to break the tension of the moment.

"Why not? It's my money. I can spend it on you if I want," he quips.

"It's too much, Tsuzuki!"

"No, it's not! I'm just doing a few things to liven up your apartment. Besides, I want to do this for you," he ends in a mumble.

"It's not a few things, Tsuzuki," Hisoka admonishes. "It's a lot."

"We're just getting some paint, rollers and drop cloths!"

"That's **_after_** we go to the furniture store for a dresser, a nightstand and some lamps! Tsuzuki, you know you don't have money for this," he scolds lightly.

Pursing his lips solemnly, Tsusuki resumes his long strides toward the mall.

"Stubborn idiot," Hisoka mumbles under his breath.

He has to jog a little to catch up to his partner, whose brisk pace catches him off guard.

"How much?" Hisoka ventures.

"What?"

"How much do you have in the account?"

"Enough," Tsuzuki replies tersely. He knows Hisoka means well, but couldn't he just trust him? Taking a breath and holding it a moment, he calms himself down. Now is not the time to get angry. He's been planning this for too long to let it fall apart because of temporarily hurt feelings. He could deal with this third degree and tactless prying. Hisoka's normally brusque attitude is what makes his warm moments all the more precious.

Feeling the spike of anger from his partner, Hisoka decides to hold his tongue.

'Tsuzuki's idea of re-vamping my bedroom for my birthday was crazy anyway' he grumbles to himself. 'I should have stopped him when he bought the three new sets of sheets and the comforter.'

"H-how much?" Hisoka stutters to the clerk ringing up the furniture purchase.

"Here you go," Tsuzuki interjects, pulling out a wad of cash and paying him.

Hisoka's eyes nearly roll out of his head. Where did Tsuzuki get -- ! He must have hundreds of thousands of yen there! How did he -- ! What the -- !

"Thank you, sir. And here is your change."

"And everything will be delivered and installed next Saturday, right," Tsuzuki inquires, replacing his wallet after inserting the change.

"Yes, sir!"

"Great! C'mon, Hisoka," Tsuzuki rambles casually, pulling his stunned partner out of the furniture store, "let's go get the paint and stuff! What color did you want again?"

Once outside, Hisoka snatches the sleeve of his jean jacket from Tsuzuki's grasp.

"You idiot!" he yells. "How could you ---- It was a dresser, a nightstand and a lamp! That's all I asked for! Not a dresser, nightstand, sofa, lamps and…and…I don't even know what else you bought! I thought I heard something about shelving and…are you out of your mind! How could you…? What the hell are you thinking! Idiot!"

Tsuzuki smiles at his flustered partner as he stalks away.

He'd been planning this for years. With Hisoka's declaration eight years ago in Kyoto, Tsuzuki realized how much he owed his partner for saving his life and how much he needed Hisoka in that life. Right after that, he'd started saving a little here and there. Though he didn't know exactly what he could do to repay such a debt, he figured he might find something material of value to start. Sure an idea would come to him eventually, he opened a savings account.

More than a year passed before an idea stuck.

Hisoka had invited him, Watari and Tatsumi over for dinner. The meal turned out well, even with Tsuzuki helping and the evening flew by. At around 1:15am, Tatsumi and Watari had excused themselves, thanking Hisoka for the invite and the great food. Tsuzuki had stayed to help with clean up. As they washed dishes, Hisoka briefly mentioned a new book he'd bought and that started the ball rolling.

"It's a great book and I'm sure I'll buy the sequels, but I don't know where I'd put them. I just wish I had more shelf space. It would be nice to have something I could put a proper reading lamp on top of so I could see well. And it would be nice to have a more comfortable chair," he'd sighed.

Hisoka had shrugged and moved on to another subject after that, but Tsuzuki's mind had caught on the mention of the new furniture and began whirling with possibilities.

The next day, Tsuzuki began discretely checking for quality shelving, lamps and easy chairs Sadly, he found that anything he wanted to buy was not only well out of his current price range, but also clashed completely with Hisoka's living room furniture. At that point, the idea became 're-do Hisoka's living room' and Tsuzuki began saving in earnest.

As months went by, the realization hit that he'd never make his self-imposed deadline of Christmas to put his plan into action. The deadline slid to February, then to Golden Week, then to Hisoka's birthday in October. At some point, the idea morphed into 're-do Hisoka's living room and bedroom' and a new deadline had to be set. Since Hisoka's 20th birthday had passed and Tsuzuki knew he wouldn't have the money to get everything by Seijin no Hi in January, a 'milestone birthday' became Tsuzuki's new goal. He chose Hisoka's 25th birthday.

Even though his paychecks were small after what Tatsumi took out to pay for all of the property damage he'd caused, by giving up at least one dessert a week, he was still able to add something to the account. And then there were all of the unwitting contributions made by his friends, like when Tatsumi gave him **Y**4,000 for groceries and he only used **Y**3,500; or the time Kacho gave him **Y**18,000 toward his rent when he'd only asked for **Y**15,000, and so on. The only person he never used 'extra' money from was Hisoka. He'd always spend anything left from what Hisoka gave him on frivolities as expected.

Then there were the outright generous donations like those from Saya and Yuma who'd each donated **Y**12,000 to the cause when Tsuzuki accidentally let his plans slip while visiting them earlier this year, and Wakaba's donation from her and Terazuma of **Y**14,000 after she'd caught Tsuzuki surfing the net for furniture late one night and wouldn't leave him alone until he'd confessed his purpose. Though Tsuzuki was certain that Terazuma had no idea his contribution went toward anything involving him, he still felt grateful.

Watari, amazing friend that he is, offered to help pay for any electronics and would install them as necessary. Tatsumi, equally amazing friend and mentor to Hisoka, scolded Tsuzuki for keeping him out of the loop after Watari blabbed a few days ago, then donated fifty random books from his own shelves on subjects he knew Hisoka enjoyed, which he knew the voracious reader hadn't yet seen. They were all boxed and sorted alphabetically at Tsuzuki's apartment for later placement on the new shelves.

As his partner stomps away angrily, Tsuzuki follows, forcing the excited smile from his face and thoughts.

**A/N:** **_Seijin no Hi _****Coming of Age Day**. Celebrated the second Monday of January for all men and women who are 20 years old.

**Y** stands for yen because I couldn't find the symbol for yen in Word.


End file.
